i'll tell you this, if bob mueller is painting a picture. he has been doing it quietly, methodically, he feel nos need to clear in the picture at once. but there is a picture taking shape. it has alleged mercenarys, paul manafort and rick gates serving foreign powers, obscure witnesses like george papadopoulos. tonight it has new characters close to the president, a national security official cooperating with the feds and talking about already the marching orders he got from jared kushner. joining me now to dig more into these questions, chief white house correspondent, halle jackson. and a former u.s. attorney and betsy woodruff politics reporter for "the daily beast" covering the russia investigation. i will go to the prosecutors in a moment, halle, reporting all this out, i will start with you, how is this bombshell rocking washington and the white house? >> in a big way. >> reporter: i think the answer to your question, ari, this is significant. can you not understate it the. in the past the white house has been able to come out. stand a

but bob mueller made some mistakes here. >> what mistakes did bob mueller make? >> you have to vet the people that are going to be part of your investigation. if it's going to be such a high profile investigation, it doesn't mean that anyone is necessarily partisan or buy yia but you don't that appearance. >> did you ever prosecute -- did you ever consider recusing yourself? >> that's not the same thing. >> why not? >> because i didn't have commentary on an ongoing basis about the people i was investigating. commentary goes on between human beings, i'm not saying i know what they really believed and what they believed affected their investigation. but we spend a lot of time talking about perception and how perception can be viewed and bob mueller, i have great confidence in, and i'm not changing my view on bob mueller. bob mueller is a good man and i think will do the right thing by this investigation. but it doesn't mean he's perfect. and by allowing people into this investigation who by their own words have a bias towards hillary clinton or against president tr

. >>> breaking news, bob mueller filing papers we just got in newsroom, approach signed by bob mueller is a request to cancel paul manafort's bail deal. reason, prosecutors allege as recently as thursday of last week, before the flynn came out. say paul manafort was working directly with a russian in russia with ties to russian intelligence service. just got that. manafort was trying to secretly ghost write op-ed to defend his past work in ukraine. reading this filing from mueller, says that paul manafort was working with long time russian colleague currently based in russia and assessed to have ties to a russian intelligence service. this is a breaking story. going to speak to senator sheldon whitehouse about this and other items. but former ethics chief richard painter. i just got this as i know you did. your view of what bob mueller is saying in this document, which is signed by him. not all documents are. and whether you see this as grounds to adjust paul manafort's bail agreement. >> i secertainly do see it as grounds, put him back in jail or house arrest. when judge says don't ha

ty cobb's name saying he's not going to fire bob mueller. is it a sustainable posture? >> well, it's a shift anyway. basically for the last couple of months the president has been pretty good about sticking to ty cobb's advice which was don't attack the special counsel. you're innocent. you haven't done anything wrong. let's let him find that, conclude that and announce that and he'll have more credibility making that announcement if you haven't muddied up the waters. the president has basically followed that and his allies have more or less followed that. now we're seeing the last few days or week or so the beginning of what seemed to be if not a coordinated, certainly a consistent, steady drum beat of attacks against robert mueller and his people who question the credibility of the investigation, whether it's partisan or not. the president in effect is giving permission to these allies to do so because, clearly, he's worried that this investigation is going some place he doesn't want it to go or thinks it's gone on too long and he's grown

i know bob mueller personally. i'm sure he's impervious to anything anyone says on cable news on the right or the left. but i wonder if you could speak to how perilous it may be to so malign people who are admired not from a partisan vantage point but just for the precision, the expertise and the results of their investigations and prosecutions. >> well, i think it's cancerous to the body politic because here you have a -- bob mueller, registered republican, decorated vietnam combat veteran. he's got people on his staff, yes, some of whom gave money to hillary clinton. others are republicans. and there's clearly a concerted effort to discredit these people. and we saw that in the house judiciary committee hearing where the director of the fbi had to go up and say the fbi was a good institution filled with patriots, and he was attacked all day long by different members of congress who were talking about perceived bias they see in this mueller investigation which many other independent thinkers do not see. but at the

and i think that's what the bob mueller is going after here. he is going after the connective tissue between putin and his circle and trump and his circle. what contacts there were and what was attempted some and he is looking the fill it in as he looks for the question of motive and possible collusion. and i covered hope hicks during the campaign. i dealt with her. she is not only very smart. it is impossible to overstate how plugged in with donald trump's world she is. there's no doubt if the fbi came and took her to the situation room, and briefed her on these approaches by the russians, there is no doubt that she immediately went and told the boss because she talked to the boss all day long. he probably wondered where she was for the hour she was in the situation room. so that's an fbi warning to trump as well. >> you make such an important point. we can all tell our campaign war stories. i didn't hear from hope all the time as a journalist but did i file a couple stories about whether or not trump would actually pay for the original loans

republicans attack bob mueller in an fbi hearing today. >> did bob mueller recruit people to his probe had had a bias against the president? >> you are taking an fbi department that was weakened by mueller's time. >> we do not know the magnitude of this insider bias on mr. mueller's team. >> if he kicked everybody off who was anti-trump, i don't think there would be anybody left. >> this comes several months when many public officials avoided attacking mueller directly. but the mood has begun shifting in conservative media. >> robert mueller's entire team should be replaced. mueller himself should be canned. >> the person to be investigated is barack obama. >> the special impeachment counsel from the beginning. >> the mueller investigation. we've been talking about how that's corrupt to the core. >> mueller is corrupt. the senior fbi is correct. >> like the owed kgb that comes for you in the dark of the night. >> this is the biggest corruption we have ever seen in terms of of our justice system i believe in our lifetime. >> hmmm. that's what's happening over there. so you have the cons

mueller, he will fire bob mueller. he wants to fire bob mueller. he does. he thinks the whole thing is ill legit, a hoax, illegitimate, a witch-hunt, he said it a million times and people around this table and every respectable republican i know and most democrats at this moment regard bop mu bob mueller as an american hero. no other conclusion to come to beyond the reach ares of party. the president doesn't feel that way. the president wants to fire him and is looking for a permission slip. house republicans have gishen it already. what senate republicans do may be the deciding factor whether bob mueller survives or not. >> sneak in another break. don't go anywhere. we'll be right back. [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. i am totally blind. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. t

bob mueller is not out to get anyone. bob mueller isn't out to make an obstruction case. bob mueller is out to gather facts and apply them to the law. if that turns out to get someone or it results in an obstruction case, so be it. it but that's the way good prosecutors think and he's a good prosecutor. >> can you speak to the discrepancy, what i picked up is that the kinds of questions he's asking suggests that he's as interested in everything that went down at the white house from the moment sally yates walked in and warned them about mike flynn until the moment he left, including the firing of jim comey. so could that sort of -- could we all be right here? >> yes, the 18-day period that mike flynn remained in office after the white house was warned that there was a problem, that's figuring very large in robert mueller's investigation. the theory out there, it's just a theory. but bob bare, the former prosecutor said that -- >> if we are to accept the white house twitter feet, we have been told that the white house the quitter feed represents official presidential state

in contrast to the bob mueller investigation. and then ken starr was remembered for publicly lashing out at critics. >> i've chosen until now not to reply. but i think in terms of basic fairness, that comes to an end. >> it is not right and it's not fair to attack and hound the career civil servants. for my part, i've learned that it goes with the independent counsel territory. >> it's not right and it's been fair. that was ken starr defending the d.o.j. and fbi civil servants on his case. tonight i can tell you, ken starr is reversing himself. he is attack bob mueller's investigation, including those same career servants. this is a move that is so blatant partisan and so obviously hypocritical on the facts and the record, it is a wonder ken starr thinks anyone will believe him. it is also especially hard because the timing seems to report on some allies in the white house now being concerned about where this probe is headed. but ken starr very recently undermined what he's saying today with this praise for bob mueller. >> bob mu

accurately reporting the alarming bias within essential counsel bob mueller's investigation. despite the fact that mueller and his team have unearthed no evidence of so-called collusion between trump and russia, the left considers it basically it's crime to even raise legitimate questions about the staffing and the tactics of the mueller investigation. iand they are now going into full on appear plexy. >> this has been a month long's orchestrated frankly pathetic and also dangerous attack. >> it's a real example of the divide in the country and how conservative media is fueling that divide right now. >> they are fomenting a constitutional crisis. what they are doing could lead to violence. >> laura: oh, really, joe? come on, even you don't believe that let's get this straight. the democrat smear machine can run 24/7 maligning president trump they use innuendo and anonymous leaks. but the special counsel is beyond reproach? they had their billionaires like tom steyer launching these absurd impeachment efforts on tv. they have hollywood infecting their programming with tedious

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the second thing is that bob mueller takes lying to the fbi very seriously. we now have two people who have been prosecuted and plead guilty to lying to the fbi. the third is that jeff sessions recusal was entirely necessarily not only because bob mueller may be taking a look at jeff sessions' own statements to congress but also because all of these people who are being charged had relationships with jeff sessions during the campaign and transition. he was the head of the foreign policy team. it's not fair to say that jeff

they are cooperating with bob mueller's investigation. the threads for me are really beginning to unravel. this began in january for me when i published a column when mike flynn, on december 29, had spoken with the russian ambassador, sergio kislyak, and did they discuss sanctions and did they do that the very day when president trump dismissed 37 hacking fz. flynn said today in his guilty plea pe lied about. he told the fbi on january 24, no, he had not discussed sanctions with kislyak, he now says that was false. from there we move to flynn's resignation. the next day the president speaks to comey and says, i want you to let this investigation of mike flynn go. the president was deeply concerned about it. this whole story begins to accelerate. we're now at the point where we have this crucial, in effect, plea agreement, and i think we've been focusing on the right question. who did mike flynn talk to about the conversations he was having with kislyak in the trump transition team? >> david, you wrote that column. we all followed up on it

and bob mueller is a good prosecutor. you make independent judgments. it might have the effect ofputing pressure on the father but that's not why they did it. >> let me add two other quick points to that. sometimes it happens when someone comes in to cooperate and gets debriefed government, sometimes part of their cougher is by the way my son didn't know anything about this and so sometimes it decision not to prosecutor a family member is made reasonably by the prosecution team. that's one thing and i think it's important to keep that. if in fact there is a an understanding unwritten in the plea agreement that general flynn's son will not be prosecuted because of this deal, the government will have to disclose that fact to any defendant against whoom general flynn might ultimately testify. so he can be cross dpamened. let's say general flynn ends up testifying in the paul manafort trial and paul manafort's words will be entitled to be told that part of flynn's deal is not actually in the agreement. part of the agreement is -- because that would geto the

ultimately bob mueller will have to make that determination. >> you have confidence in bob mueller? >> i have great confidence in him. >> let me ask you about this lengthy "washington post" report that says they were reluctant to talk about the election because it upsets the president and derails the briefing and doesn't want to hear about it so they don't talk about it. there's been no cabinet meetings, according to "the washington post," discussing any of this. the president a few times grudgingly has acknowledged this but then seems to regret having said that. is all of this detrimental to national security? >> unquestionably. it's almost unthinkable but we have a situation where our commander in chief cannot be told the truth about what the russians did. >> why? >> because it would upset him. >> why would it upset him? >> well, because he either fears it delegitimatizes himself and doesn't want to hear it, he can't stand to hear this, it's like that line from tom cruise, you can't handle the truth. apparently the president can't handle the truth or the president is in such deep

who are well aware of bob mueller's record. sean hannity knows what bob mueller has done for this country. leave his war record aside in vietnam. he protected this country after 9/11. and the hypocrisy of the party who clapped really, really, really loudly when donald trump gave his bat bleep crazy convention speech about law and order attacking the top law enforcement officials in the country is staggering to me. >> a couple points. prosecutors in this country have tremendous power. and they should not be beyond criticism. but this isn't criticism. this is a premeditated, deliberate, dishonest smear of robert mueller, a man who has spent his entire life in public service, who is known, if for nothing else, his probity and his rectitude. and we should talk about his war record because he's put his life on the line for this country and he's conducted himself at all times as an honorable servant of the american people. he's a recipient of the bronze star with the valor. he's the recipient of the purple heart. he was wounded in co

keep talking if you want but bob mueller might be listening. joining me now, the former prosecutor who has reported the facts in this case. harry, how does one apply this federal law to potential unauthorized contacts? >> so the application is straightforward under the elements of the act. flynn acted without authority. he was trying to influence foreign officials. but you've given the punch line at the beginning. it has never, ever been used successfully and the trick for mueller is whether he wants to take a risk, especially as a free stack charge. i don't think he will. there's a real risk here. even if the facts and evidence, even if there is void for vagueness. does it cover dennis rodman's misadventure in snouk these 47 senators? if a judge strikes down a prosecution on that basis, it will play as a trump victory, even though it shouldn't. and i think -- >> right. you mentioned dennis rodman. that's like the reverend jesse jackson example. where we've seen people saying maybe it applies. walk us through the category. does he seem really e

but they're not really working in tandem with bob mueller's team. bob mueller's team is certainly the supreme being in the investigative corral and the congressional committees are trying to get what they can. but there's also this political element to this. you'll notice house intelligence has a very big fight on its hands between the republicans and the democrats about whether they should wrap up their probe and be done. republicans leaning towards getting this done and over with. democrats saying there's much more to figure out. i think there's a gentlemen's agreement between the congressional committees and bob mueller's but mueller is really the one with the subpoena power that's stronger than anyone else's and can compel testimony. robert: when it comes to the question everyone has on their mind, will president trump be called? will he be compelled to meet with mueller's team in the coming months? he says there's no collusion but it mueller going to speak to the president, based on your reporting? carol: it seems impossible for the president n

to not fire bob mueller. and i think that if he attempts to do so that you're going to see legislation move if there's any hint at all that bob mueller's job is in jeopardjeop >> all right, senator ed markey, thank you, sir, we do appreciate your time on this very busy friday. >>> and just ahead, there's more breaking news on the michael flynn plea deal. the possible legal risks for the president. parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what? you could apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan whenever you want. no enrollment window. no waiting to apply. that means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. medicare doesn't cover everything. and like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide. it could help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that works for you. these types of plans have no

we begin with breaking news on bob mueller's russia probe. bob mueller is subpoenaing key financial records related to donald trump from a foreign bank. reuters and bloomberg news both reporting mueller is using his legal power to demand deutsche bank hand over its files on trump's money. this is the bank to hit. trump reportedly owes it about $300 million. the story rattling the trump white house tonight. trump's spokesperson, sarah huckabee sanders, denying this story. >> the news reports that the special counsel had subpoenaed financial records relating to the president are completely false. no subpoena has been issued or received. we've confirmed this with the bank and other sources. >> she cites trump's lawyer, jay sekulow, who says, quote, no financial records relating to the president have been subpoenaed. that is a denial, but it actually could be a narrow one. records related to the president could refer only to trump's finances since he took office this year or his activities in 2k3w067 government. in fact, it is donald trump's pre-

don't believe bob mueller. peter strzok was removed from the investigation last summer -- >> hold on, willie. are you telling me that the inspector general conducted an investigation, found these texts -- by the way, i'd love to see these guys' text messages during their hearings. you guys want to play that game, show your text messages during benghazi. why don't you reveal your text messages and what you were texting each other while you were conducting an i'm parable investigati imperil /* /- impartial investigation of benghazi. >> so the process works. >> he found the texts and they're bad. they go after donald trump. they say f trump. they call him an idiot, this and that. when those were revealed and discovered, they were removed. >> andrew mccarthy of the national review said, hey, fbi agents -- a conservative who has been very skeptical on the whole russia probe said these people are professionals. they're allowed to have their own professional opinion. the texts look like a big nothing. lots of people,

good prosecutors -- and bob mueller is a good prosecutor -- you make independent judgments about each defendant. it might have the effect of putting pressure on the father, but that's not why they did it. >> two other quick points to that. one is, sometimes it happens that once someone comes in to cooperate and gets debriefed by the government about all their information, sometimes part of their proffer is, by the way, my son didn't know anything about this. and so sometimes the decision not to prosecute a family member is made reasonably by the prosecution team -- >> intrinsically? >> yeah, that's one thing. so i think it's property to keep that in context. the second is this, if there's an understanding, unwritten, in the plea agreement, that general flynn's son will not be prosecuted because of this deal, the government will have to disclose that fact to any defendant against he might testify. >> explain how that would work, i'm sorry. >> so let's say general flynn ends up testifying in the paul manafort trial. >> okay. >> and paul manafort's lawyers would be entitled to be told, m

bob mueller is a by the books prosecutor. he has a long track record of being a by the books prosecutor. trump's afraid of that. you see his willingness -- >> why would republicans let their own credibility get hijacked doubting bob mueller since they've known bob mueller and his work for decades and they met the president ten months ago and during that ten months, he made smack talk then? >> one of the hallmarks is the lack of political courage within the gop to define what contemporary conservativism is and what it means to be a party that believes in the rule of law, which is always has. yet they're launching this assault on bob mueller. >> i want to bring in peter alexander. the president just spoke about collusion on the white house lawn moments ago. peter did you get to ask hill anything? >> we got to speak to the president for about ten minutes before he heads to quaint toe. among the questions posed to the president, i asked him about roy moore. he said that roy moore should concede in the alabama senate rate. specifi

i'm ari mueller and you're watching a special edition of "the beat." >>> breaking news tonight, bob mueller charging three former trump aides and one pleading guilty. that guilty plea means there are actually two news stories. one alleged. the other is not in dispute. in bad news for the trump white house, the story not in dispute is the one about russian collusion. let me give you our breakdown tonight. the first story more expected. two very well connected gop operatives turning access into a fortune and gave them power which they strangely risked by allegedly hiding work, money and tax bills and not pleading guilty today and the manafort said the charges are ridiculous. and the money trail with links to russia and putin oligarch allegedly funded the work. >> accused of complicity in the killing of protesters. he denies allegations of embezzling state funds or hiding millions of dollars in foreign bank accounts. night after the shootings, he left kiev and never returned. the russian president sent special forces to bring him across the border to safety in russia. >> that was manafort's cl

or bob mueller's team. i'll joined with the spokesman and the ethics lawyer under george w. bush. is there under the requirements, so people understand the law, any basis for a second special counsel? >> well, i would be tempted to appoint a special counsel to investigate why the members of congress are covering for president trump on the russia investigation. this is a serious threat to our national security. what happened in 2016. and this investigation needs to go forward. there's just absolutely no credible argument that robert mueller, or anyone now on his staff, has violated any ethics rules. and that they've done anything other than conduct this investigation professionally. president trump feels threatened by it for obvious reasons. his son-in-law, maybe his son are in trouble. i have no idea why members of congress are fronting for the president here. does he have something over them? what's going on? we have a republican deputy attorney general who has to defend a republican. robert mueller is a r

the stage for firing bob mueller? >> no! no, there's no conversation -- >> there's no way. there's no way he's going to fire him? >> there's no conversation about that whatsoever in the white house, chuck. >> none whatsoever. >> we've continued -- you guys keep bringing that up. we've continued to cooperate in every possible way in that investigation. >> all right, they say there's no way this firing is going to take place. is there really no way? and then yet, if it were to happen, what would the optics of all of this be? >> well, the optics would be terrible, but that doesn't mean that republicans on the hill would actually do anything about it. but no, of course i don't believe that the white house has not been considering any possible way -- >> you don't? >> no! i mean, trump said on tv that part of the reason that he fired comey was that comey wouldn't let this russia thing go. you know, comey has said -- >> it wouldn't look good, though. >> it wouldn't look good. and comey has said that trump pressured him to st

if trump goes for door number two, bob mueller is head for that move. he cracked the door open for prosecutors who can't be stopped by a presidential pardon. robert mueller made flynn agree to cooperate with local prosecutors any time they're identified by the special counsel. the presidency is a powerful job. the ability to pardon is powerful unour constitution. but on this earth, there are even more powerful forces. like time. so mr. president, don't forget what the rolling stones explained such a long time ago. time waits for no one and it won't wait for you. when it comes to heartburn trust the brand doctors trust for themselves. nexium 24hr is the number one choice of doctors and pharmacists for their own frequent heartburn. and all day all night protection. when it comes to frequent heartburn, trust nexium 24hr. coaching means making tough choices. jim! you're in! but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising

there's little deterrent for president trump from firing bob mueller. that's the real concern right now is that he may have a permissive environment from the committee. >> in terms of the -- i guess, the other side of the environment that the president may be considering here is what the reaction would be within the justice department if he ordered deputy attorney general rod rosenstein to fire bob mueller. clearly, in his response most directly to you and also in the rest of the responses today even to republican members seemed like deputy attorney general rosenstein had no interest in entertaining the idea muller is not only fire-ible, he didn't seem to want to entertain any idea of bias or impermissible behavior or personnel involved in the mueller investigation. >> that's right. i told deputy attorney general rosenstein we're all counting on him. this investigation is a very narrow bridge and the most important thing he can do is to not be afraid and fearlessly walk that bridge and show independence because he may be asked to fire bob mueller and th

a report on bob mueller's russia probe. and in a moment, we'll explore what mueller taught trump this year and why he's not done for 2018. you'll notice two of our favorite lawyers there and our favorite journalist that has a law degree. my first question, what did bob mueller teach trump about the republic this year? i want to begin with a quick tour of the key moments that turned the russia probe from a few suspicious aides -- >> under siege from day one. michael flynn is out. >> flynn, they say, had lied to the president and vice president. >> general flynn's resignation is not the end of the story. it is merely the beginning. >> moments ago, sessions held a press conference annoying that he's recusing himself from any investigation involving the trump campaign. >> president trump has fired james comey as director of the fbi. >> i just heard from a former fbi official describe this as shocking as "insane" and questioned whether it could amount to "obstruction." >> did president trump pressure comey to drop the investigat

mueller he would only charge him with a fraction of what bob mueller knows about him? >> we don't know yet. the way it works, the pyramid gets nay oher t narrower the hi. only a couple people higher on that pyramid than mike flynn, indispensable in that campaign and he made him the national security advisers despite president obama saying, don't do it, sally yates saying he's compromised. despite governor christie saying i have a bad feeling about him. he has brought dishonor and discredit to this administration. this is a compromise national security adviser who lied to the fbi about his contacts with the russian ambassador in the middle of an investigation about whether the trump campaign colluded with the russians. it's impossible to overstate what a big deal this is. how important it is. and once again today this moves closer to the oval office, and we see the unraveling of all the lies, the president's lies, the vice president's lies, the attorney general's lies and an administration as a nonstop proclivity to lying, now seeing criminal consequences of it. >> snea

bob mueller is looming large. the white house very much wants to get through this period at the end of the year where their senior staff are being interviewed. they very much want to be able to turn this around on bob mueller and say you've enjoyed everybody at the white house. you've done what you need to do. tell us we're not the focus. move on to whatever you need to do next. that's what they're hoping for. >> what are the odds of that happening? >> not very good. i think these white house interviews are about the obstruction of justice strand of the investigation which probably would not take as long as the collusion strand which is going to take a lot longer because in order to make that case, he may need the testimony of paul manafort. paul manafort may want to go to trial and that could take a year. it feels like there's a lot left to gathor the question of, did senior members of the trump campaign knowingly collude with the russian effort. i don't think that's going to wrap up any time soon. >> the tweets

. >> is there good cause to fire bob mueller as we sit here today? >> not to my knowledge. >> today tersely saying he sees no good reason to fire the special prosecutor. he was in congress testifying in the house at a hearing where most of the republican members of the committee wanted to use that occasion to express their outrage about the terribleness of the robert mueller investigation and what feels like an orchestrated effort to set up the country for the fact that robert mueller is going to be undermined or perhaps fired by the white house. that's what it feels like at least from a distance. but joining us is congressman swalwell that heard that testimony today. congressman, thank you very much for being here tonight. much appreciated. >> of course. thank you for having me back. >> the justice department released two reporters' text messages of people that no longer work on the investigation and they discussed political reactions to things going on during the campaign. republicans focused on their texts that were critical of trump. but we have

get the country to ignore what bob mueller finds or worse, they can get the country to go along with the firing of bob mueller. >> elijah cummings of maryland said this on his way into today's committee interviews with andrew mccabe. >> to the press, i beg you to get it right, you are recording this history. you got to get it right, this is a fight for the soul of our democracy. nothing less. and so i'm going to work hard to make sure we save that democracy, and i will fight until i die. cia criticized, fbi criticized, over and over and over again. now the rumors and i hope that's all they are of mueller possibly being fired. i hope that's not true those are the kinds of things that tear down a democracy. they are the very things that our democracy is based upon. and i say to all americans, and i beg you. to guard this democracy to guard it. >> kind of emotional words from a veteran member of the house that got our attention today. for their part, the white house continues to maintain that mueller and this russia investigation are safe. >> we have no intentions of firing bob mueller,

he feels like a scared donald trump in the corner doesn't fire bob mueller? >> i think when he does that, it brings the final avalanche down on him. the comey firing, you can get away with that, the way the parties are playing out in congress t. mueller team i don't think so. >> see, i fundamentally disagree, with the comey firing, i don't think there are norms that he feels look he needs to abide by. i think if this thing were to go on longer into 2018 as it appears very likely to do, they are already laying down the grounds for to him say, this has lasted far too long, it's a witch hunt. i'm putting an end it to. if he won't do it, i will finds someone who will. what is striking to me is how nonchalant members of congress are about this. there are pieces of legislation that will innoculate bob mueller or protect special count sell's office from the type of executive interference and they're going nowhere and no one on the hill seems to care all that much. they assume there is no way donald trump would touch this third rail that it would be unconceivable to

official in position to lawfully remove bob mueller. it is a point we discussed specifically this week on "the beat." >> what is your specific concern with rosenstein? >> he has not been forthcoming. i'm accusing him of withholding evidence that should have been in the possession of the judiciary committee and i don't think that he personally lied. >> you don't think he lied. >> no. i think he withheld information would illuminate further conflicts of interest. >> so he didn't lie. he didn't do anything wrong. >> i think he withheld information. >> i'm joined by he natasha from business insider. what are the contacts and the times of communication that you found in your reporting and why would it matter? >> there were some interesting comments made the other day. he told a cnn reporter he has been in touch with the white house. he didn't really explain what the communication was about but he said in response, have you been talking to the white house about mueller? of course we talked will we talk about all sorts of things. the other thi

so those three areas of time give him an awful lot to talk to bob mueller about. >> and bob mueller put a marker down here. and he is very strategic in the sense that this is about conversations during the transition, but showing that flynn is saying now on the record and cooperating that he was in touch with all of these other people in the transition. what message is bob mueller sending to those people when he calls them back in about election stuff and ask him about other things. they all know that flynn is cooperating, that the e-mails have been turned over. you asked this question to the president. what did he know and when did he know it? >> can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with russia during the course of the election? >> well win told you, general flynn, obviously, was dealing, that's one person -- >> during the election? >> no, nobody that i know of. >> so you're not aware of any contacts during the course of the election? >> how many times do i have to answer this question? >> can you just answer the question? >> russia is a

i have immense respect for bob mueller. no one can argue there haven't been serious missteps that cast doubt on this investigation. >> fought very serious. >> reporter: really? are you kidding me the people investigating are biassed against president trump? how much more serious can it get, jonathan? >> there are people that have opinions, they say indiscreet things t. fbi, the new york office of the fbi said much more indiscreet and harsh things about hillary clinton last summer when she was being investigated. >> reporter: again we're not talking about hillary clinton. >> you have saying to end the investigation. >> reporter: i never said end the investigation. i says it raises serious questions. >> much more serious questions being raised about what trump administration officials, whether it was the president, himself, or not, were doing when all these conversations with the russians, our election was compromised last year. the fact that republicans don't seem to care about that. >> reporter: that's insane. >> it's going

and bob mueller. today former bush white house aide and mccain presidential campaign senior advisor steve schmidt in this studio called out these attacks on robert mueller with perhaps the most robust defense of robert mueller you will ever hear. >> prosecutors in this country have tremendous power, and they should not be beyond criticism. but this isn't criticism. this is a premeditated, deliberate, dishonest smear of robert mueller, a man who has spent his entire life in public service, who is known if nor nothing else his probity and his rectitude and we should talk about his war record. he's put himself on the line for this country and conducted himself taumts as an honorable servant of the american people. he is a recipient of the bronze star with the valor device. he is a recipient of the purple heart. he was wounded in combat for the united states. what you're seeing on fox news is indistant from the type of propaganda that you would be subjected to if you lived in belarus, or if you lived in r

you are having a firing of bob mueller at the end of the year. that are worried that he may do exactly that. jeremy is absolutely right. there is a very strong messaging effort to discredit this administration, to this investigation rather. robert mueller investigation. at the same time, there are people who believe that if the president firing robert mueller, that it will set into motion a political chain of events that will be even more damaging to the white house than when the president fired former fbi director james comey. it's a thought that perhaps instead of firing robert mueller there will be this consistent effort to try to discredit every aspect of this investigation in the same way that we've seen that these claims that the e-mails were obtained illegally. i think lawyers would know that e-mails that are served by a third party don't have the same protections as other e-mails. they would also know that someone like robert mueller who has done this for a long time and is a pro would not go and seeing in evidence a way that he couldn't

bob mueller removed somebody for those text messages is, in fact, proof that bob mueller is committed to undertaking this investigation with the utmost of integrity. >> reporter: the president's intense focus on the mueller probe is yet another distraction for gop leader who's are trying to pass tax cuts before leaving for the holidays. >> okay. well, thank you. >> reporter: republicans want to move on the tax plan before incoming alabama senator doug jones is seated after defeating roy moore. mr. trump is ready for moore to concede that race. >> i think he should. he tried. i wanted support. always i want to support the person running. we need the seat. we'd like to have the seat. i think we're doing very well on the tax. we'll see what happens. >> reporter: now while he was criticizing the fbi today, the president had kind words for russian president vladimir putin. one day after the two leaders spoke, the president thanked putin for praising his performance on the u.s. economy. it's another example of how the president doesn't ever seem to criticize vladimir putin. wolf? >> jim aco

and bob mueller. today, former bush white house aide and mccain presidential campaign senior adviser steve schmidt in this studio called out these attacks on robert mueller with perhaps the most robust defense of robert mueller you will ever hear. >> prosecutors in this country have tremendous power. and they should not be beyond criticism. but this isn't criticism. this is a premeditated, deliberate, dishonest smear of robert mueller, a man who has spent his entire life in public service, who is known if for nothing else his probity and his rectitude. and we should talk about his war record because he's put his life on the line for his country and he's conducted himself at all times as an honorable servant of the american people. he is a recipient of the bronze star with the valor device. he is a recipient of the purple heart. he was wounded in combat for the united states. what you're seeing on fox news is inseparable from the type of propaganda you would be subjected to if you lived in bellarus or

. >> what has bob mueller already learned? >> this is clearly not the last shoe to fall. >> does mike flynn's deal leave president trump and his inner circle exposed? why is he so desperate to have this investigation stopped? >> finally, it's decision day on taxes in the senate. >> i think it's a very good piece of legislation. >> this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. >>> good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington. welcome to "mtp daily." folks, this is a five-alarm fire for president trump. no other way to put. former national security advisers pleaded guilty lying to the fbi last year. the guilty plea, that's the tip of the iceberg. noe most importantly, he's cooperating and seemingly very willing to talk to those above him. taking instructions from senior or very senior people in the trump transition team. we're about to find out who they are. we can report one is jared kushner. according to two people familiar with the manner. it isn't hard to speculate who the others could be. because there weren't many people

many are lawyers and know and respect bob mueller. is that strategy likely to have any real world impact? >> i think it could. i think we have seen already that when this administration, this political operation decides to say something and press a case, it doesn't matter if it is true or false, they will say it over and over and over again. and it will sing in, catch on, and change public. perhaps. we thought initially if there was a conversation a few months ago, will they fire mueller, and they said oh, no, reallies really like him. he is beyond reproach and they could never do that. this week we saw republicans questioning the cia director and trump criticized the fbi and you had allies starting to insinuate that the fbi is corrupt. that mueller's investigation is corrupt. rather than rallying to bob mueller's side. we have seen they are carrying the administration and the president's water and that is interesting because that is something that maybe people on the hill, people around washington for a long time that know bob muelle

by the way, isn't bob mueller a republican? >> that's right. bob mueller is a republican. this is an effort to discredit him. he is doing a very, very good job. he has done more in seven months than it takes special counsel to do in years. he's charged four people. he led a very, very thoughtful, thorough investigation so far. he's done nothing to lose the confidence of the american people or anybody in government for that matter. i think bob mueller is going to continue to do what bob mueller is going to continue to do. he's going to be thor he row. he's not going to show his hand. he won't be dehe tered by any smear tactics. he's going to get to the bottom of this at the end of the day. >> michael, ranking member adam schiff is speaking out about a similar thing he has seen. >> they're refusing to schedule any of the witnesses to come in in january. and there are literally dozens of witnesses that need to come before our committee who may never come before the committee if they shut this down. i think they're on the verge of renegativi re reneging. they are signaling we

> i think if they knew how ineffective it was with a man like bob mueller they might not do it. but i think they're doing it for an audience of one, an audience in the oval office. it's the kind of thing bob mueller might brush off. >> it's a formidable list. i think it'll hold. how do we end it. >> it was about having difficult choices, about having too much. the velocity of the year. >> alternative facts. >> no. russia did not help me. >> yeah that's him. >> mr. rosenstein, your testimony today is you believe bob mueller is a person of high integrity, right. >> yes. >> i think that bob mueller ends here at number one because he's already indicted or pled out four former donald trump campaign officials one his former national security advisor, and he heads into 2018 with the fate of the presidency in his hands. >> just been told we've had cameras on us while we were having this conversation the whole time. thanks for joining us. >> good night. >>> i'm chris matthews. after 36 years in the senate and another eight as vice president, could joe biden make another try for the white